


a shimmering shadow

by artisttsitra03



Series: a fire looking for its shadow [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Bumbleby - Freeform, F/F, Future Fic, Intense, Panic Attacks, Sad Ending, and completely insane, broken character, idk how to tag, murdering thoughts, this is just intense, this is just really bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 16:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5055718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artisttsitra03/pseuds/artisttsitra03
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Blake, baby, please come back to me.” I softly say, the stinging of tears coming to my eyes. I feel as the pressure of her foot comes off my chest, the warmth from her already leaving me. I miss it so fucking much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a shimmering shadow

**Author's Note:**

> Extreme warning everyone: this is not a really happy fic, I'm sorry! Also, this may be really bad because I didn't edit this at all, and I wrote it in a span of like, four days, but I wanted to get it out really fast due to RWBY Vol. 3 premiering this weekend. So, it's probably not a really good fic, I'm sorry!
> 
> It's a rough fic overall, the time jumps and moments when they do jump are a bit difficult and rough. If you have any questions at the end of it, you can totally ask away!

 

**_fourth year_ **

 

 _I looked behind my shoulder to find a beautiful and adorable sleepy Yang yawning, her steps beginning to slow down. I watched as her eyelids were gradually closing, barely opening every other step we took. But as I laid my eyes on her for a few seconds, her eyes shot open as if knowing I was watching her._ Come on, you’re dragging us back _, I mouthed, extending my hand out towards her. Grinning like she always does, she happily took it, our fingers lacing with each others, her pace beginning to match mine. The warmth from her hand immediately radiated throughout my entire body, releasing the tension out of my muscles. Yang’s semblance definitely had its perks sometimes, but even with its flaws, I loved her semblance._

_I turned a corner, following after Weiss and Ruby as Professor Goodwitch led us into Professor Ozpin’s office. My gosh, it was such a giant room, such a beautifully designed room. Team RWBY definitely need a room this size. With the amount of wrestling Ruby and Yang do, a larger room would benefit us so much._

_The four of us came to a stop, each of us standing side by side, our shoulders gently bumping against each other’s. The door softly clicked behind us as Professor Goodwitch left us. The four of us stood a few meters away from his desk, all of our eyes looking at our headmaster as he stood at his window, his gaze fixed on something out of his window._

_I felt a little tingle throughout my chest, my heart must have sped its pace up. We were standing in his office, that meant that some things might have happened. It could mean that we got complaints from other rooms about how Weiss and Ruby’s arguing is getting a bit too loud. It could mean Yang’s blasting of music had too many curse words in them. Not mentioning these people have been living near us for four years, surely they’ve gotten use to us already. Or it could mean that the four of us got caught for staying out after curfew all last month. It honestly could mean a lot of things, but we can get by, especially when it comes to Professor Ozpin._

_But nevertheless, being in Professor Ozpin’s presence after the entire White Fang a few years ago has made the air between the two us tight. I bit the inside of my lip, watching as he laid his cup down, his cane barely hitting the tile. Yang must felt my heart race because she gently squeezed my hand for reassurance, her thumb softly rubbing over my skin. God, did I fucking love this woman._

_“What a lovely night, Team RWBY. Firstly, I would like to apologise, I’m sorry to have called in the four of you into my office so late in the night.” He softly says, his eyes looking carefully at each of us._

Oh thank gosh, he sounds like he’s in a good mood.

_“Naahh, it’s all a-okay Professor, this is no biggie. You know, after the entire sha-bang of the White Fang and Torchwick stuff a few years ago, this is no-”_

_“Yang, if you do not shut your mouth, I swear!” I can see Weiss turn her head in the corner of my eye, but I don’t make a comment. It’s a late night for Weiss especially, I can’t help but understand why she’s a little annoyed. I barely turn my head to look at Yang to my right, for a face that says_ You had that one coming _. She responds with a simple grin._

_“Anyways, I bet you four realise that the graduation ceremony is just a few months around the corner, and it’ll be here before you know it. You four will graduate within the top three teams, congratulations on that, however, there is only one thing stands between you four and graduation. Before we let any of our students graduate, each team must complete an S-Rank mission together.”_

_“Ah, hell yeah! We haven’t had a mission in weeks!”_

_“That is not exactly the case, this S-Rank mission will not even be close to your previous missions Miss Xiao Long. Unfortunately, you will experience the front lines head on and force you into dangerous situations that Huntresses and Hunter face on a daily basis.”_

_“Alright, so what exactly is this S-Rank mission?” Ruby calmly asks. I smile to myself, noticing how immediate to the point our team leader is. After all of these years, she’s grown to be an amazing leader, an amazing friend._

_“Rumour has it that a specific ghostly figure has resurfaced in the city these past few weeks. They were a dangerous person a few years ago, and after a while of staying quiet, they’ve decided to come back. This figure goes by the name Murdock, a leader of a large growing terrorist organisation, and I need you four to take them down. Our scouts say that Murdock was last seen at the docks by the western side of the bay. I caution you this first, ladies, do not underestimate those terrorists. But most importantly, do not underestimate what you four can do together. Goodluck to you four, I hope the best. You are dismissed.”_

 

-

 

Blake’s heels softly clicks the ground as she runs behind ship cargo. _A meeting here? What a coincidence, just like a few years ago when I was stalking Torchwick._ A faint laugh barely escapes her lips, her head looking over her shoulder. The night is still young, just the way she preferred it, just the way she absolutely loved it. Tilting her chin upwards, she looks up at the moon only to notice that it hasn’t even reached its peak yet. It’s quiet by the bay, maybe too quiet, she doesn’t like that. Blake felt her ears barely twitch as she hears the sound of rustling water near her. Barely peeking over the side of a cargo, she can only see a few guards having a small game of who the fuck can pee the farthest.

Grunting, she swiftly rounds that corner of the cargo container, slowly lowering her body as she starts to creep alongside the wall, mixing herself in with the shadows of the night. Quiet seconds passes as she keeps her spot, not moving at all. She’s almost surrounded by guards, the only way to escape is behind her.

“What do you think about Murdock, Clyde?” A guard roughly asks, his voice hoarse and obviously tired.

“They’re fucking weird man, but they’re good. I like how they handle things, and after the cargo coming in tonight, with all of this new shit we’re getting, we’re going to get things done.”

“Thank the fucking god, I’m tired with all of this small plans we’re having. I hope we can speed it up, you know, so we can have a break soon. We’ve been here in this boring city for months, and I’m tired of it. After all of that White Fang shit years ago, it smells like feces here.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Those faunus can go die for all I care, they’ve caused enough trouble for us anyways.”

It’s silent between the two of them now. Blake feels her fangs bite into her lip as she suppresses the urge to just knock them out right now, but she’s better than that. Even if the White Fang caused trouble, they were being used by Adam. Blake had to bite down again, the thickness of bloody liquid dancing on her tongue now. She felt his name linger a bit longer than she wanted in her head.

“There’s rumours spreading that Murdock has this new invention. I hear it takes some certain people by surprise. Man, would I love to see that invention live in person, wouldn’t that be fucking gr-”

“You two fucking idiots, what are you doing? Come on, we have to clear things up for the exchange tonight, get your asses over here!”

Blake can hear them let out a tired groan, conversing a few mutters to each other, then walking off. Listening to the two men’s footsteps fade away, Blake can finally let out a breath she’s been holding in, the taste of blood lingering on her tongue. She can feel her heart racing, small trickles of sweat falling down her forehead. Then, she quietly hears Ruby’s voice ring in her ears. “Everyone in position?” The team leader softly asks.

“Give me twenty seconds sis,” Yang quickly replies, her voice sounding exasperated already.

There’s sound in the far distance to the east, and Blake knows what it exactly is. It’s not much commotion in the distance, but it’s enough for a faunus like Blake to pick it up. Oh my god, Yang, you seriously did not. Closing her eyes, she lets out a quiet groan.

“Are you actually kidding me?” Blake can hear the ice princess let out a forced laugh. “Yang, we purposely gave you the route that had the least amount of guards because we all knew you would do this!” Weiss snaps on the other end.

Rolling her eyes, Blake releases a faint sigh to herself, knowing that her partner has already caused trouble. But knowing Yang - Blake smiles to herself - she can definitely handle herself in that situation. She suddenly hears Yang’s mic come back on, heavy pants on the other end. “Alright, I am so fucking locked and loaded. And, I’m in position.”

Ruby is the farthest one away, her scythe sniper scouting where everything is and keeping everyone easily updated on what’s happening around them. Weiss is a few twenty or so meters in front of Ruby, her glyphs set and ready. After years of being together, they’ve learned that Weiss and Ruby do better long distance whereas the other two work better with short distance. Yang and Blake are on the front lines, both of them are on each sides of the bay, Yang on the east and Blake on the west. Yang is faced towards the moon, the light radiating where she is. Blake lingers in the shadows of the west, the night giving her an advantage due to her being a faunus.

“Okay, good, but just saying sis, I don’t know if you were keeping time, but that was about four seconds shy. Come on, I kind of expected less than sixteen.” Ruby jokes, a sly laugh echoing through Blake’s ears.

“Oh boo-hoo, I just knocked out six guys without drawing any attention to me, cut me some slack.” Yang shot back, the sound of her reloading her gauntlets was distant in the background. Blake could hear Weiss’ thick groan as well, that made her let out a quiet laugh.

She missed this. She missed this so much. It had been a while since the four of them were out in the night like this, out with a mission on their backs. Honestly, even if she were a quiet person and preferred her surroundings to be quiet, she could never get tired of her teammates - her family - talking so much. The three of them just knew how to slowly open up her shell and make her comfortable, they knew how to make her feel wanted, feel loved, feel like a family member. She missed this.

“Alright, now that we’re all here, this is when everything starts happening. So if our stats are correct, Murdock should definitely be arriving in the next carrier that lands on this bay.” Blake slowly closes her eyes, her thoughts focusing only on Ruby’s voice. She knows the other three have theirs closed. Weiss actually started the tradition of doing this a couple years back when her and Ruby got together, and the four of them started doing it every mission, it somewhat makes them feel closer, as if they’re right beside each other. The amount of confidence in Ruby’s voice is able to calm Blake’s nerves. “We don’t know how many carriers are going to be flying in, but we do know that Murdock is on one of them. Once they land, do not engage. They’re here to exchange a deal with a rebellious group of hu-”

“Incoming,” Blake quietly says, her golden eyes glimmering in the shadows. She feels her eyes dilate when she sees lights flash up at the sky, the entire bay now thriving with commotion. There’s a line of four helicarriers making their way to the docks, Murdock is bound to be on one of them.

There’s silence between the four of them, none of them breathing a single word. Blake carefully watches as the people on the ground signal the carriers with arm waves, everyone scattering around the docks to get situated.

“Hey, when we get done with this mission, I’m taking you out.” Yang softly murmurs into Blake’s ear.

Wait, what?

Blake’s jaw drops, her thoughts so lost. She doesn’t mention a name, but the three of them know exactly who she’s talking to. Closing her eyes, she takes in a deep breath before releasing it. _We literally just went out on a date the other night Yang, have you no patience?_ “Yang. . .,” Blake starts, her voice barely audible.

“Why would you even say that right now? We’re literally on a mission woman, specifically an S-Rank mission, Yang, we’re in a life and death situation. Now is not the right time for that, and besides that’s completely irrelevant Yang,” Weiss immediately says. She can actually hear Weiss rolling her eyes at the two of them.

“What do you say, kitten? You up for it, or do you wanna pass it up?” Yang murmurs again, ignoring Weiss like always. Blake clenches her jaw as she feels Yang’s voice basically sending shivers down her spine.

“I’ll answer your question once the mission is over, sweetheart,” Blake calmly responds, a smile tugging at her lips. She can just imagine Yang’s face with widen eyes and her eyebrows raised, a beautiful and heartwarming grin on her face.

“Oh, smooth answer Blake. Sorry guys, as much as I would love to listen to you two talk about your love life, three helicarriers have landed, and Murdock hasn’t stepped off yet.” Ruby intervenes, her voice low and quiet.

“What does this person look like again? I actually kind of forgot already, heh - uh - whoops.” Yang quietly says over the loud rustling helicarriers.

“You are such a dunce, oh my god.” Weiss mutters through the mic, and Blake can’t help but feel her lips twitch.

“Please dear Weiss, you’ve been stuck with me for years, there’s no need to be so mean now.” Yang whines, the fake hurt in her voice is too adorable. All Weiss has to reply to that is a low murmur under her breath and Blake can’t help but add _Me too Weiss, me too._ “What was that, I couldn’t make that out Wei-”

“Oh my god, Yang, you may be my sister, but I swear woman, if you do not shush right now, I’m not taking you with me to visit dad after graduation.” Ruby interrupts, the smallest amount of annoyance masked in her voice.

A smile tugs at Blake’s lips as she hears Yang’s soft mutter under her breath, but she follows the leader’s command. Even if this is an S-Rank mission, it doesn’t feel like one at all, well not to Blake at least. The four of them have been together for several years and have gone on at least over two hundred missions together, and none of them have honestly been absolutely terrifying. Just because this is an S-Rank mission, why should they be terrified if they’re faithful in each other?

Her ears twitch as the blades of the helicarrier begin to slow down and come to a stop, the sound of rumbling stomps against metal and excessive yelling. Blake peeks her head out from the shadows, her amber eyes carefully watching people slowly walk out of the carrier.

“Team RWBY, I’m glad you four were able to join me tonight!” A loud voice booms throughout the bay. A woman carefully walks out of the door of the carrier, a wide grin on her face. She’s staring directly at Blake, almost knowing as if she’s standing there.

Blake freezes her entire body, her eyes widening as the words enter her head.

That’s Murdock.

“I have a very special gift to share with you guys. Let’s start by showing Miss Blake Belladonna what this special thing is,” Murdock softly says, her grin widening.

Blake watches as she raises up her arm and presses her thumb into a button. That’s when she hears it, when she hears the sound echo into her eardrums.

_Run Yang, run as fast as you can away from me._

-

_Yang, wake up! Come on sweetheart, wake up! Please, I just need you to wake up, please wake up!_

When I flutter my eyes open, I feel a sudden throbbing in the back of my head and immense pain shoot through my chest. Groaning, I try to sit up only to be pushed back down to the ground by a foot - Blake’s foot. I look up at her, only to stare into her eyes, such beautiful and sweet eyes that are glaring down at me

That’s when I remembered everything.

“Blake,” I quickly say, I could feel my voice shaking in my throat, could hear the caution in my voice, could hear the fear in it. Her mouth opens almost as if to say something, but she immediately closes it. “Blake,” I say again, my voice becoming quieter, only to let out a groan. Her foot is putting pressure onto my chest, onto my wound that I got, oh my god, does it hurt so much. “Bla-” I repeat myself, coughing to the side, the taste of blood on my tongue.

I look up at her, I look at my beautiful kitten. All I can see are her eyes, her eyes that are dilated into something completely different from what I’ve ever seen, dilated into eyes that make her look like an actual monster. They’re not even amber looking anymore, they may look like that color to anyone, but to me, there’s such a strong amount of dullness hidden in her eyes. That’s not my precious Blake anymore.

“She’s gone, Yang.” The faintest voice in the back of my head murmurs to me.

Immediately, my head snaps to look around me to see who said it, but it slowly dawns on me that it wasn’t anyone. It was me. I grit my teeth together, my hands clenching into a fist. “What did you do to her?” I snap, my breathing becoming low. “What did you fucking do to my fucking partner Murdock?!” I yell, my voice almost breaking. I shouldn’t have yelled because now there’s a lot of pain shooting throughout my chest again.

There’s a laugh that echoes throughout the entire night sky, the sound of it bouncing through the bay area. “I invented my greatest creation yet, Yang.” Murdock quietly says. I snap my head over at her, seeing a figure standing behind crumpled bodies, but she has also has quite a few of people behind her. “After everything that’s happened tonight, I’m glad you’re the one to  be here Yang,” she says her voice is so soft and innocent sounding, god, did I want to fucking kill her. I watch as Murdock slowly walks over to me, her face battered with blood and bruises. Her bow has broken up into two pieces now, a kusarigama dragging against the floor, a handle of her weapon in each hand. My eyes veer down towards my wrists, the sight of my golden gauntlets sends a large amount of anger through me. They’re smoking and completely empty of ammo, god, I made fucking dumb mistakes tonight.

I move my eyes from Ember Celica back up towards Blake who looks as if she hasn’t blinked. Our eyes meet each other’s, but there’s no internal connection between us, she can’t see into my eyes, and I can’t see into hers. “Please, would you care to tell me just what that creation is?” I carefully ask, my eyes never leaving Blake. Her Gambol Shroud is limply laying in her right hand, her head still staring down at me. She has one foot on me, one foot on my wound where it’s putting pressure on it, maybe too much pressure? But it’s actually keeping the blood in.

“It’s an enhancer my friend,” Murdock replies, coming to a stop a few meters away from me. I turn to look at her and I see an obvious smirk on her face. I had to bite down my tongue to resist the urge to strangle her. “Now, don’t be so hasty Yang, I’m only here to explain what it exactly is. You see, Yang, the faunus can do things that we aren’t even capable of doing. They can hear sounds and noises on a completely different frequency that we aren’t even able to comprehend! It’s completely insane, I know, but it’s really amazing. So, I thought, since scientists have definitely done research on faunus and they’ve done us, then we should really put that research to action.”

“You’re kidding, how did an dunce like you come up wi-”

“Careful Yang, remember where you are in this situation.” Murdock quickly warns, her jaw barely moving. Her eyes carefully look at Blake who’s still hovering over me, her foot still firmly pressed against my chest.

I felt my eyebrow twitch in challenge. “And you should remember that I’m basically a Huntress already and I can handle myself in situations like these.” I snap back, a smile tugging at my lips. Two can play at this game.

“Would it be worth killing your friend? Your partner? Your lover? My invention doesn’t just allow me to control their brain waves, Yang. I’ve altered these frequencies that allows me to control their brain all together, and you wouldn’t want me to sever and destroy Miss Belladonna’s brain, would you?”

“You’re bluffing,” I quickly say. I feel my heart speed up, my words caught in the middle of my throat. She’s playing with me, toying with me, and there’s not a single fucking thing I can do about it.

“Oh, you wish I was. People have a soul, everyone has a soul, but how can you even live a life without your own mind? That’s not even living actually, you’re a lifeless person without your own thoughts.”

“You’re awfully sentimental and philosophical for an idiot like yourself, h-”

Murdock lets out a loud laugh, it’s an ear piercing sound to my head. Wiping away the fake tears from her eyes, she places a hand on her hip and looks down at me. “An idiot like me, you say? Surely you know that I’m a well known person of destruction these past few years, that’s a bit true. Actually before all of this, I was an insane scientist, not like, a mad scientist at all, but like, you know.” Murdock grows at me, glaring down with a disgusting shine in her eyes.

“No, I really do not know.” I mutter under my breath, gritting my teeth together. Murdock is staring directly at me, and I feel as if she knows everything about me. I feel as if she can tear me apart and know every single decision I’ll make, feel as if she already knows my choice of words about anything.

“All of the work I did on the faunus was a bit of an obsession, it wasn’t at the time, it was my graduation term project, so I had to like, put a lot of work into it. So. . . you kind of understand the gist of the whole story now, I suppose. But anyways, we’ve been working on this invention for quite a while, and it hasn’t really been put to the test actually. I’m quite surprised it doesn’t have quirks right now, they usually do. But, with you four, I think anything is pretty much possible. Isn’t this all insane, Yang?” Murdock asks, her eyebrows raised at me.

I don’t say anything, leaving the silence hang completely still in the air.

“I know right? So insane that you can’t even comprehend it all, yeah, me too my friend. It’s pretty great to control someone’s brain with a set level of frequency, which scientifically, I don’t see how that’s possible, but we actually got it to work.” Murdock says, waving her kusarigama around, the string slowly retracting back to her handle. “Team RWBY, the best team at Beacon Academy, the team that single handedly took down Adam and the White Fang all together. I’ve destroyed this team now. Let me just tell you Yang, I’ve wanted to break you four into pieces for so long, for such a fucking long time. God, whenever I heard or saw you guys in the news, I just had to throw a fucking hammer into my fucking TV. I wanted to step on you four, to kill you four, to murder you with my own hands, but I actually won’t do that because I really don’t need blood on my hands right now.”

I force a thick swallow down my throat, the weight on my chest becoming heavier. It’s getting harder to focus on things, and the distant sound of loud rumbling only makes my head worse. I keep my mouth shut, knowing if I talk, it’ll make things worse. I slowly veer my eyes towards Blake, letting the sight dawn on me. I can see her lip trembling, her fangs biting in her lip as a small amount of blood smears across her lip. I can see the pain across her face, the pain lingering and shooting throughout her entire body.

She’s fighting back.

“Well, you’re obviously dwelling in your own thoughts, you’re no fun anymore, Yang. Anyways, the night’s already kind of getting boring now, so I guess this is it then. And besides, it’s been a really great day anyways, so I guess I’ll call tonight to an end.” Murdock says with a slight shrug, a yawn coming out of her mouth. Her kusarigama has now shifted back into her bow, the weapon in her left hand. Raising a hand to her ear, Murdock looks up at the sky, the bright moon. “Griphon, please increase Miss Belladonna’s frequency. I’d sure love to not have any witnesses tonight.” Her hand lowers from her ear, and she looks down at me. Grinning widely, she shrugs her shoulders before breathing heavily. “Goodbye, Yang.” And that’s the last Murdock says as she swiftly turns on her heels and walks away.

Immediately as Murdock’s figure comes to a stop and converses with people, there’s a painful cry coming from Blake. Snapping my head towards her, I open my mouth but can only watch in horror as Blake clutches the sides of her head, a scream escaping her throat. The sound of it makes my heart drop, and I feel like I can’t breathe anymore.

It’s the enhancer.

The screams slowly die into quiet whimpers, her hands falling to her side. Opening her eyes, she looks down at me, and I feel a shiver travel down my back. Her eyes become even more dilated, the black pupil forming into a single line, slit-like eyes. She’s what her faunus is now; she’s a cat.

“Blake, baby, please come back to me.” I softly say, the stinging of tears coming to my eyes. I feel as the pressure of her foot comes off my chest, the warmth from her already leaving me. I miss it so fucking much.

As quickly as she took her foot away, I watch as she unsheathes Gambol Shroud and points the very tip of the blade at my neck. I could see a flicker in her eyes, those goddamn beautiful golden eyes looking down at me. “Baby please, don’t let her control you, don’t let her do this to you.” I gasp out, the pain completely unbearable. I immediately hear a low growl escape her throat, Blake’s blade sinking deeper into my neck, the trickle of thick blood now flowing down my throat. I can’t help but let out a small whimper.

“You’re stronger than this, way stronger than her Blake. Get it out of your head, get it out of your senses.” I raise my hand to reach out towards her, but she immediately hisses at me. “Focus on my voice, my voice only, hear my voice itself. Don’t let those other noises get inside you, kitten please.” I spit out, my voice urging like there’s no tomorrow.

_I’m so sorry about this, kitten._

Groaning loudly, I duck my head under the Gambol Shroud with no second to spare, and kick her legs from under her. I hear a thud onto the ground along with an Oof! Rolling to my left, I quickly gather to my feet, ignoring the immense pain shooting through my body. I’ve put a couple of meters between the two of us, but knowing that I’m severely wounded, that’s not going to make a single difference.

Blake’s already gathered to her feet when I stand up and I curse under my breath. I watch as her tongue slowly licks the blood off of her lips, her stance wavering from side to side. Her eyes are still slit-like looking, and her hand has tightened its grip around the handle of Gambol Shroud.

I unlock Ember Celica, feeling the gauntlets cover my forearms. Even if I don’t have any ammo left, I’m not going to let my own partner kill me that easily. “Come back to me kitten, please come back to me.”

A mixture of hissing and growling immediately comes towards at me, Blake’s attack catching me completely off guard. “Shut up,” she spits at me.

She can hear me, I immediately notice. Blake can hear everything I’m saying.

“Blake!” I scream. Holding my forearms up, I was able to barely block the blade, but my left foot goes out from under me and I have to take a step back. “Baby, it’s me, it’s your Yang, don’t let her control you. Don’t let her take over your mind and use you like a puppet. Blake, please, come back to me, hear my voice.”

I grit my teeth together, the wound on my stomach is becoming a pain in the ass again. Taking a couple steps backwards, I create space between the two of us again. Her eyes are looking at me, her face is still masked with pain. I raise my arms, ready to deflect or perhaps land an attack on Blake, but I suddenly feel a hit into my heart.

“I can’t hit you, I just can’t. You’re m-my kitten, Blake, I can’t hurt you, I jus-”

She comes back at me again, screaming. I dodge the blade that’s coming towards my left shoulder, but I’m too slow to move from her fist that’s coming straight at my right ribcage. Embracing for the worst, I take a step back and ready my body for it, feeling the immediate hit into my chest. The pain radiates throughout my entire body and I roughly cough up blood, wincing at the taste of it. “Shut up,” I hear her mutter.

“I won’t shut up until you can hear my voice. I’ll keep at this until my very last dying breath,” I barely say, a sly smile on the tip of my lips.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!” Blake yells at me, her fangs now showing at me. She takes a step back and looks at me dead in the eye, her Gambol Shroud in hand, her own weapon in hand pointing directly at my chest, at my heart. I don’t move a single muscle. “Please, just shut up.” Blake quietly says, her voice as if on its knees begging for it.

“I won’t.” I firmly reply at her.

A couple of moments of silence pass between the of us and I hear a faint yell in the background. “Griphon, what’s with the holdup? Why isn’t Miss Xiao Long lying in a pool of red blood yet? Get on with the killing!” Murdock yells, her voice so loud.

I hear and see Blake’s hand tighten her grip on Gambol Shroud, her knuckles turning to white. She’s fighting against it, she’s fighting so hard against it. “Blake,” I carefully say, my voice shaking so much.

She doesn’t say anything.

I take a deep breath and let my arms fall to my side, the muscles in my arms so weak that I feel my knees beginning to buckle. It’s taking every ounce of energy inside me to keep standing. “You’re my kitty cat, Blake.”

_Kitty cat._

Instantly, her head snaps upwards and looks at me. I watch as her mouth forms the one single word, and I couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh. “Yang,” Blake utters, her voice so quiet and so painfully scarred sounding.

“Hi you,” I whisper so ever softly at her. It’s a nickname that I rarely ever called her, it’s something that Torchwick had called her a few years ago and whenever she heard it, it made her snap. I watch as tears quickly stream down from her eyes and her lips twitch into the gentlest smile I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life.

_I’m sorry, Yang._

It happens in a flash almost. Everything happens so quickly before my eyes that I barely have enough time to react to it. But, I saw it happen, I saw everything, even if it was fast.

“Blake!” I scream, but my own voice doesn’t stop her from reaching her goal. She’s so swift on the tip of her toes, quickly backing away from me and charging forward.

Blake immediately turns around her shoots five rounds from her Gambol Shroud directly at Murdock. She’s able to easily dodge them considering the distance between the two, but Blake’s semblance allows her to close in the space of the two. I watch as Blake runs towards Murdock, her Gambol Shroud sheathed into two weapons, the intent to kill filling her entire body.

Murdock doesn’t waste any time to raise her body and pull back the string of her bow and let a few of them go from the edges of her fingertips. Four arrows are shot from her bow, four arrows that are made out of crystal dust, four arrows that are aimed directly at Blake’s body.

_Take care of them, Yang._

I hear the sound of it before I actually witness it, before I see the arrows puncture her body, one into her shoulder, one into the middle of her chest, one into her stomach, and one into her thigh. I hear the sound of the arrows entering her body, the godawful noise of it as they cut through the muscle in her body.

I hear as Murdock’s laughter dies away as Blake’s rounds punctured everywhere into her body, and her Gambol Shroud slitting her throat, blood spewing out into the air as her head falls back. The last thing I witness before my eyes is the two of them, so so far away from, falling backwards and falling to their death. The last thing I hear are my screams echoing in my eardrums and the sound of boiling blood seething through my body. My lungs are burning and I can’t breath, but it’s okay, because _boy, I’ve never felt so alive before._

Flickering my eyes open, the first thing I see is fire everywhere. Ship crates are on fire, dead bodies are burning, people are burning alive, everything is on fire. The first thing I hear are the dying screams from the people around me as they burn to death. The first thing I smell is fresh blood, it’s coming from my head, my body, my arm, my mouth, it’s everywhere. The first thing I think about is my partner, my Blake, asking if she’s okay, wondering where she is. The first thing I remember is that everything is not okay, it won’t be because she’s lying meters away from me.

I don’t move, I can’t move. I’ve literally exhausted all of my energy to the point where my muscles won’t respond to my brain anymore. So I leave my cheek laying against the cold and wet pavement of the dock, my limbs still as I lay on my stomach.

I feel so weak, my muscles can’t move anymore, my aura is basically all used up to my maximum limit. I reach my hand out towards Blake’s limp body and feel no tears stream down my cheeks, I can’t do it. Coughing, I turn my head to spit out blood, the thick red liquid pouring out of my entire body. I’ve lost too much blood tonight, this is going to be a horrible death.

“Blake,” I struggle to say, my own voice caught in my throat as I can’t even breathe anymore. It’s no use in saying her name anymore, but I can’t face the truth right now, not yet.

_She’s gone, Yang. You can't retrieve the dead._

“Baby, please, don’t leave me.” I cry out, digging my claws into the pavement. Screaming in pain, I use every single thing I have in my body, everything I have to crawl towards her. “Blake, please, baby please.” Just a one more crawl towards her, and I'll have her within my grasp. I'll never let go of her again.

The first touch of her is just barely warm, the heat in her body is disappearing. My fingertips barely brush the top of her skin, and I can't help but let the tears fall out. I let out a choked sob, my lip trembling as I feel my heart stop beating. I don't even know where my sister and Weiss is actually, and I probably don't care at all right now. I feel my face soften as I close my eyes, the sound of my name in the distance drowning out.

-

**_Five months later_ **

I’m barely struggling to make my way around campus, which thank god, because I was tired of everyone doing shit for me. But nowadays, without Ruby or Weiss’ help, I can manage on my own, just not as fast though.

Sighing heavily, I let out a slow breath through my mouth as I lower my head, I can’t look at my reflection anymore, I just can’t. My hair drops down over my shoulders and I look at the ground, my breaths becoming quick and short now.

_Oh no._

It was happening again, I was having a panic attack again. Letting out a choked sob from my throat, the burning sensation of my tears stings my eyes as they fall down my cheeks. My lungs are on fire, and I can’t think. I can’t stop myself from trembling, god, my head felt like it was going to explode. I feel my stomach beginning to turn into circles, the small amount of food I ate yesterday twirling and twisting into knots. I feel like I'm going to throw up any second. My chest feels all too heavy now, so much weight is piled on top of my chest, my lungs, everything on my body. I can't breathe, why can't I breathe. Oh my god, am I going to die?

_Sweetheart, breathe please. You’ll worsen it if you don’t give yourself some air. Take a deep breath, Yang._

I hear a soft knock on the bathroom door, but I don’t raise my head from looking down, I just can’t do it.

“Graduation ceremony starts in an hour, sis, but we have to be ready on stage in twenty. Weiss and I will be waiting by cherry blossom trees, come down when you’re ready.” Ruby quietly says. Cherry blossom trees, they're the team's favourite. Ever since we took a mission out of into the forests a couple of cities from the Kingdom, we could never get tired of looking at them.

I don’t say anything back to my sister, goddamnit, my own fucking sister. God, I’m such a weakling. I hear her softly shut the door and a few faint phrases conversed between her and Weiss, then our dorm room door closes. I’m all alone now.

Walking out of the bathroom, I feel my eyes set on the sight of my bed, but they slowly fall downwards to Bl-. My eyes look at the her bed, at her books that keeps me up and going. Sniffing through my nose, I try to wipe away my tears but they immediately get replaced by fresh ones. Taking a couple of steps, I gently sit on her bed, slowly closing my eyes. I’m so pathetic. I feel the weight of the world come down onto my shoulders and I can’t do it anymore. I can’t be strong anymore to withstand it and stand tall with courage. Not after everything.

I lean backwards and lay on her bed, the blanket and comforter so cold. I clench my hands in her sheets as the memories hit me again. Her smell still lingers on the sheets, even if we’ve washed them after weeks of dust gathering.

There’s a little plop that hits the window, loud enough to catch my attention. Rubbing at my swollen eyes, I slowly sit up and gather to my feet. It’s the early start of spring, but windy chills still soar through the air. Looking out the window, I see something in the corner of my eye that flows ever so swiftly through the gusts of wind, something that’ll always spot my attention: _a black ribbon._

 

**Author's Note:**

> me: [screams]
> 
> I might just do something with that ending, I don't really know. Also, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.


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